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How to get child to remember multiplication tables?
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How do you all drill times tables? I can’t for the life of me get my son to remember anything more than the ones, zeros and a few of the lower 2’s. He is 10.5, going in to “5th” grade and I think he should be doing more than he is. He is very smart but has had a lot of problems with subtraction with re-grouping and now his times tables are holding him back.
I am not one to sit and drill, drill, drill, and he is not one to take it upon himeself to sit there and study times tables.
I have a feeling that he just isn’t remembering them because they are boring and he doesn’t WANT to.
Any ideas? I know this is driving my husband crazy.
Oh, forgot to add that he started doing times tables copywork, but I think he does them very quickly just to get them over with and doesn’t actually pay attention to what the figures are.
I know he understands the concept, and can figure them out if he HAS to, but it takes a long time and he is kind of lazy.
He is also ADHD and hates to spend so much time on something.
I try my best with him, and only want the best for him but he is challenging.
Well, if you can figure out a foolproof way to do this, you could make a million dollars selling it to other moms. Seriously, this is one issue that I think just about every family has. I know I hear about it from nearly everyone I know.
At various times, we have used flashcards, computer games and math copywork. The thing that seems to work best with my kids is the math copywork. For instance, we’ll write all the 4’s on a card, hang it up by where we work so that they are all seeing it every day, and then they have to copy it every day until they know them. Some kids are really auditory and it helps if they actually say them out loud as they are copying. I find that unless I really make it a priority, it doesn’t get done. I actually have to write down “flashcards” as an assignment or we just forget to do them.
Have you thought about going back to skip counting? I made my son, also ADHD and very strong-willed but very smart, some index cards for the 7s, 8s, and 9s. He really struggled with those three the most. I turned the index card vertical and wrote in a large size the first number (e.g. 7, 8 or 9).
Then down the card in two colums I wrote the multiples (e.g. 14, 21, 28 ….) for the 7s for example. I had him carry those around everywhere. He didn’t love it, but I would notice him studying them.
I also highly recommend the Multiplication Wrap-ups. I found them (and the division ones) used. They are so fun, even my little ones play with them.
http://www.amazon.com/10-DAYS-TO-MULTIPLICATION-MASTERY/dp/0943343003/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3
**Mine didn’t come with anything but the wrap-up itself but it really works and has through the 12s**
Another possiblility is card games like you play WAR but test his multiplication memory while playing. Instead of the person with the highest card getting the two cards, the person who says the multiple first wins the cards. You would obviously need to allow him some opportunity to have a chance (only you know best on that). I allow 2 seconds before answering with my 10YO son. The nicest thing is you can take out the cards as needed. Take out the face cards if they confuse him. Here is a link to more card game suggestions.
http://letsplaymath.net/2006/12/29/the-game-that-is-worth-1000-worksheets/
I also printed out a really handy free e-book full of math games you play with a deck of cards. If you go to the link below and scroll down to the picture with “Acing Math One Deck at a Time”, then you click on it and it pulls up the PDF you can print out. I liked it so much, I printed it front/back and had it spiral bound.
Try to find ways to make drilling more fun. That is the key I think. HTH
Forgot the link to that last resource. Sorry! Here it is:
I like the index card and skip counting idea, I will try that. It’s free too which is good, lol.
I hate to admit it but I am a horrible game player. Most of the time I find I don’t have the time or the want to do this (I know, bad mom). I thought that our CM schedule was going to be too light, but since we started this week there have been a few items already that we couldn’t fit in, lol.
I did buy a comic-book type math facts book for him since he likes comics but of course he thought this was neat and doesn’t remember a thing and has read it once. Not how I want to spend $20, lol.
I understand about games, but I would highly recommend finding the time. They really can make a difference! Even if you just set aside 10 minutes a day to play some type of game that would allow you to drill him on the math facts you hope to practice, it would be a big pay-off I think. For ADHD kids, often they need a lot of stimulation and games have a lot going on, so they often are a good choice for them. I have game time scheduled in as part of our learning.
You can also watch the old Schoolhouse Rock multiplication videos on YouTube. These are quirky but fun and might catch his interest.
I don’t know about the Comic Book (sounds interesting!), but there are so many free resources out there.
Is it possible you have a right-brained child? I’m just learning about it and getting started with Dianne Craft’s program to help build bridges between the right and left brain, so I can’t tell much, but you might want to check her website to see if your son is exhibiting other characteristics of the right brained child.
I have used the multiplication songs on School House Rock DVD with my 10 year old son. I found it on Amazon. These have worked well with him. When he tends to forget, esp. the 8’s, I have him watch the 8’s or whatever again that week. Best of all he does enjoy singing the songs and watching. After he would watch the 8s I would have him say them to me. It has helped and we will probaby keep reviewing this way since it is the summer and I had just told him he needed to start watching them again.
My children were part of a Classical Conversations community for a few years and memorized the skip-counting songs on the memory work cd’s. My dd10 says all the time she is so glad they did that, as it helps her tremendously with her multiplication. I just pulled out the CC cd this morning for DS 7 to refresh his memory, as I know it will help him, as well!
Skip Counting songs are great.
My kids also use Flashmaster. We like to use it during the summer to reinforce math facts.
My 6YO is doing so great on his adding facts from using this. He’s almost doubled the number he can do in 3 minutes just since June! (He’s the type that loves video games, and since we limit those here, he knows this is the only electronics he can use that’s considered “school”. LOL)
A friend of mine recommended Times Tales, http://www.timestales.com/ I bought them and it helped tremendously. My son was very stuck on his 6-9s, and this took care of those. I also second the games, we like muggins math games, or games on this website: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
What has worked for dd9 is skip counting initially (from being in CC for a couple of years), then using CLE math which has built in daily timed drills (very brief) and systematic flashcard review (not reviewing all tables every day, just a few cards), and now for summer using Mad Dog Math (the printed version, not the computer drills), which is one brief timed drill (on one fact family) per day, and then 5 minutes of flashcard review. I think that for most kids, they need lots and lots of repetition and short daily timed drills, and (gasp) flash cards in short systematic doses. Keep it short and it will be tolerable. I love the Right Start idea of playing games instead of flashcards, but in most mom’s lives that I know there isn’t really enough time to do enough games (in my opinion and talking to my other hs’ing friends). I regret not doing daily systematic flashcards and short drills from the very start of hs’ing. As a result, dd knows her multiplication and division facts better than addition and subtraction. I plan to remediate those with Mad Dog Math once she has achieved mastery of the multiplication and division facts. I tried Flashmaster with her but it didn’t help.
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